VOIP No Substitute For Warm Bodies

From the minutes of the March 16-19, 2009 meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Council of Social Security Management Associations (NCSSMA), an organization of Social Security management personnel. The meeting included a session with Social Security Commissioner Michael Astrue and Social Security Deputy Commissioner for Operations, Linda McMahon:

TSRP/VOIP [Telephone Systems Replacement Project/Voice Over Internet Protocol] – The new equipment does little to help us answer phones more effectively. Nor does it revolutionize our service delivery. It would be helpful to be able to divert phone calls to another place, perhaps the TSC [Teleservice Centers, which are also overworked and would also like to offload some of their work to someone else]. We have a new phone system, which we have long needed; however, it does not enable the Field Offices to provide better public service. Human resources are still the answer to many of these issues. [Translation: We need more employees. to help us get our work done.] We continue to see more visitors despite Internet utilization. In addition, there is a tremendous amount of pressure to move Internet claims. Phone service is sacrificed. What will happen when we have VOIP reports to show where we really are in terms of not answering phones? Will we then have the same pressure we now have as a result of VIP [?] data? Metrics will only be one more thing to manage. We need, on average, at least two additional employees in each office just to be able to answer telephones. Quality is lacking in the clarity of our new telephone systems. ...

In many cases, VOIP provides less functionality than our old phone systems. For example, the paging feature is not available to all offices; only to those offices that were previously utilizing it. Both the Commissioner and Linda were surprised to learn of the problems we are having not only with VOIP but also with Nortel.

By the way, I am using VOIP technology in my office. There is nothing wrong with VOIP per se. It provides a clear cost saving advantage. However, in no way does VOIP substitute for warm bodies answering the telephone.

COBRA Assistance Won't Be There For The Disabled

I had earlier wondered whether the COBRA health care insurance continuation assistance now available for laid off workers would extend to those forced to leave work due to illness, on the theory that their departure from work was also "involuntary."

Unfortunately, it was the Internal Revenue Service rather than the Department of Labor (where separations from employment due to illness have long been held to be involuntary for purposes of unemployment insurance) doing the interpreting. IRS Notice 2009-27 defines involuntary termination to mean a separation from employment "due to the independent exercise of the unilateral authority of the employer to terminate the employment." The notice goes on to say that "absence from work due to illness or disability" is not enough to qualify one for the COBRA assistance.

Border Patrol

From a presolicitation announcement that Social Security placed on FedBizOpps.gov:

Investigative services to be performed under contract to verify claimants' U.S. residency for the purpose of establishing eligibility and continuing eligibility for receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits for the Social Security Administration (SSA). ... The service area zones are located along the Mexico-U.S. border in Texas and New Mexico. ...

SSA officials will notify the contractor of the name and address for residency verification. Upon written request, the contractor shall perform an unannounced onsite visit to the claimant's reported address to verify residency, contact one non-relative neighbor who has first hand knowledge of individual's residence and submit a written report documenting the results.

Bad Blood At Social Security

From Joe Davidson's Federal Diary column at the Washington Post (registration required):

Like married couples who are lovey-dovey in public but have a tense relationship at home, the fondness that federal union leaders express for President Obama may not always reflect what's going on between local union leaders and managers in the workplace.

The problem is the emotional baggage left over from their previous relationship. ...

Mark Roth, AFGE general counsel, said "the relationship is now venomous on both sides." Referring to a potential presidential directive calling for labor-management partnerships in federal agencies, Roth said "you just can't layer an executive order over" the bad blood that lingers from the Bush days.

"I know that our Social Security activists are not in a mood to partner with" top Social Security Administration officials, he said. "They want them gone."

Speaking of unions and the Social Security Administration, the Association of Administrative Law Judges is celebrating a victory over the agency that allows the union to represent judges who hear cases involving disability benefits.

An arbitrator, Michael A. Murphy, ordered SSA Commissioner Michael J. Astrue to "cease and desist from refusing to recognize the union" and "from displaying anti-union animus."

Understaffing Costs Money

From an audit report by Social Security's Office of Inspector General (OIG):

Our objective was to determine whether the Social Security Administration (SSA) evaluated earnings reported to the Master Earnings File (MEF) for disabled individuals receiving Title II benefits. ...

In our July 2004 report, Disabled Title II Beneficiaries with Earnings Reported on the Master Earnings File, we stated that SSA did not evaluate all earnings reported to the MEF between 1996 and 2000 for disabled individuals receiving Title II benefits as of March 2002. We estimated that approximately $1.37 billion in overpayments resulting from about 63,000 disabled beneficiaries’ work activity was not identified.

To perform our follow-up review, we identified 25,904 disabled beneficiaries (from 1 Social Security number segment) who were receiving Title II benefits as of July 2007 and had earnings reported on the MEF between 2001 and 2006 that may impact their entitlement to benefits. ...

Based on our review, we estimate that approximately $3.1 billion was overpaid to about 173,000 disabled beneficiaries because of work activity. Although the Agency identified about $1.8 billion of these overpayments to approximately 141,000 beneficiaries, we estimate about $1.3 billion in overpayments to approximately 49,000 beneficiaries went undetected by SSA. ...

We recognize SSA’s efforts to improve the work-related CDR process. In addition, we acknowledge the Agency’s limited resources with which to perform this workload. However, we believe SSA may achieve greater savings in the long-term if it could provide the resources to perform more work-related CDRs.

Should Make For Interesting Reading

Under President Obama's Memorandum of March 20 executive branch agencies receiving funds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) may not consider the views of any lobbyist about expenditures under ARRA unless those views are expressed in writing. These written communications must be posted online within three business days. This does not prevent in-person meetings or telephone conversations in addition to the written statement, but the agency must post a summary of such conversations within three business days.

As best I can tell, Social Security is not yet in compliance with this portion of the March 20 Memorandum. This is not unusual. The Sunlight Foundation reports that few agencies are.

You can already find out online who has been lobbying Social Security, but until now you have been unable to find out what they are saying.

Stay tuned.

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Social Security To Concentrate On Hiring Disabled

From the Network to End Homelessness:

The Social Security Administration recently received funding to hire a significant number of employees throughout the country. This hiring initiative offers a unique opportunity for individuals with disabilities who may want to get a job with SSA. These jobs will be at various skill levels including a number of entry-level positions.

SSA will be holding a national teleconference on this issue specifically for Employment Networks, State Vocational Rehabilitation Staff and others who help people with disabilities go to work on Tuesday, April 21, 2009 from 1:00 to 2:30 PM EST. This session will build upon an earlier Webinar and provide more details regarding the initiative. A guest speaker from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission will also discuss the Schedule A Hiring Authority. Please visit www.cessi.net/ttw to register for the teleconference. ...

In particular, the Agency is reaching out to Ticket to Work Ticket Holders who are trying to return to work, veterans with disabilities through programs such as the Wounded Warrior transitional program, and students with disabilities. Many individuals with disabilities will qualify for consideration under a special placement authority called “Schedule A.”

New ALJ In Wyoming

From the Casper Journal:

Administrative Law Judge Patricia Henry only has been in the state since January, but she's already making a difference for those in Wyoming who were denied Social Security benefits.

With 42 hearings a month, she's whittling away at a case load that includes 634 pending cases. Her goal is to decide 500 cases a year to try to cut down the time claimants have to wait for a decision to less than a year.

Henry is a native Texan who comes to Wyoming from an administrative law judge position in Pennsylvania.

New Mexico Gets Some Love

A press release from Social Security:

Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security, today joined U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) for a tour of the agency’s new National Hearing Center (NHC) in Albuquerque, New Mexico. As a result of significant funding increases for Social Security over the past two years, the agency is able to open the NHC, as well as hire approximately 80 people for positions throughout New Mexico before the fiscal year ends in October. To further improve service to New Mexicans, Commissioner Astrue and Senator Bingaman also announced that Social Security plans to open an additional field office in the Albuquerque area in 2010.

“With Senator Bingaman’s leadership, Social Security has received additional funding to hire and fill jobs in New Mexico and throughout the nation, as well as invest in technologies that improve service,” Commissioner Astrue said. “This funding is crucial to our efforts to handle the increased workloads resulting from the economic downturn as well as the aging of the baby boom generation. Our employees are making positive strides toward driving down the hearing backlog and providing prompt service to the public. With sustained support, I am confident we can successfully address these challenges.”

“Commissioner Astrue has been working very hard to address the backlog of Social Security cases, and New Mexicans are already seeing results,” Senator Bingaman said. “I commend the Commissioner for his efforts, and will work to ensure he has the funding he needs to eliminate the backlog. With the opening of the National Hearing Center in Albuquerque and the new office in Rio Rancho next year, Social Security will be able to better serve local residents and those waiting for disability decisions around the country.”

The Albuquerque NHC utilizes electronic video technology that enables Administrative Law Judges to hold disability hearings remotely throughout the country to reduce backlogs. Albuquerque initially will hear disability cases for Kansas City and Portland, Oregon -- two of the most backlogged offices in the U.S. Social Security’s first NHC, located in Falls Church, Virginia, opened in December 2007 and has contributed to improved processing times in Atlanta, Georgia, Cleveland, Ohio and Flint, Michigan.

The agency is working with the General Services Administration on a location for a new field office in the Rio Rancho/north Albuquerque area to better serve the rapidly-growing population there. The new office is scheduled to open to the public in early 2010.

Bingaman is on the Senate Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over Social Security.